Salt is great for enhancing the flavor of our dishes, but it plays a bigger role in the chemistry of cooking than you might think. For example, the folks at America's Test Kitchen point out that if you're boiling green veggies, a few pinches of salt in the water can keep them bright and green while cooking. That's not all though.

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For the best effect, pair a little salt in the water (to keep the chlorophyll from leaching out into the water) with an ice bath after removing them from the water to stop the cooking process. In addition to keeping veggies bright and green, ATK also explains in the video above how to use a pinch of salt to keep coffee from being overly bitter (a trick you may have learned from Alton Brown), and why adding a little salt to your scrambled eggs will keep them smooth and creamy instead of firm and rubbery.